THE

2007FESTIVAL OF

JEWISH CINEMA

T H E J E W I S H F I L M F O U N D AT I O N O F A U S T R A L I A I N C .P R O U D LY P R E S E N T S

2007FESTIVAL OF

JEWISH CINEMA

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MELBOURNE 7-25 NOVEMBER ACMI CINEMAS, AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR THE MOVING IMAGE,

FEDERATION SQUARE, FLINDERS STREET, MELBOURNE MELBOURNE TELEPHONE BOOKINGS (03) 8663 2222

Principal Sponsor

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The Members of The Jewish Film Foundation ofAustralia Inc. would like to thank the following

organizations without whom the 2007 Festival ofJewish Cinema would not have been possible.

Festival Principal Sponsor - Melbourne

Festival Sponsors

Festival Government Partners

Festival Community Partners

The Jewish Film Foundation of Australia Inc.Major Partner

Festival Sponsors & PartnersFestival PatronsThe Members of The Jewish Film Foundation of Australia Inc.

would like to extend their warm thanks to the 2007 Festival Patrons listed below together with a number

of Patrons who have chosen to remain anonymous.

Leading PatronsJudith & Leon GorrSusie & Paul Ivany

The Liberman Family

Supporting Patrons Bruce Fink

Arkady ShtrambrandtBrian Sherman AM

Miriam ZajacThe Lew Foundation

PatronsJan Epstein

Colin Golvan SC Michael Karp Steve Klein Eva Presser

The Lehrer Family Elris Mendoza-Finch

Irena Nebenzahl Anna Schwartz John Sharpe

The Leo & Mina Fink Fund

(To find out more about the Festival Patrons Programme,please phone Lina Raso on 03 9670 3500)

AcknowledgementsThe 18th Annual Festival of Jewish Cinema is presented by

The Jewish Film Foundation of Australia Inc.,a non-profit incorporated association

(Reg. No. A0025942D), and an endorsed charity.A.B.N. 88 383 595 786.

P.O. Box 536, Carlton North,Victoria 3054.

Members

Joseph Azoulay, Leon Gorr (Chairman), Peter Ivany,Les Rabinowicz, Michael Roseby & Phillip Zajac

Consultants: Herbert Geer & Rundle Solicitors: Marshalls & Dent

Accountants: Roseby, Rosner & YoungAuditors: Sothertons L.L.P.

Festival Director: Les RabinowiczFestival Programmer: Diane Perelsztejn

Festival Administrator: Lina RasoEditorial Consultant: Scott Murray

Development Consultants: O’Keefe & Partners Ellana Aarons & Anna Morris.

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Described as “a legend” by Rolling Stone magazine and as “oneof rock’s most original guitarists” by The New York Times, GaryLucas has been a regular fixture on the New York music scenefor more than two decades, both as a solo performer and inleague with such luminaries as Captain Beefheart, Jeff Buckely,Joan Osborne, Allen Ginsberg and Lou Reed. Lucas hasperformed his score for The Golem in over 15 countries – fromNew York and London to Moscow, St Petersburg and Pragueitself, the home of the Golem – and in contexts as varied as theBiennale in Venice to London’s Meltdown Festival. Lucasreinterprets Jewish melodies both ancient and modern with anarray of musical strategies, fusing traditional folk tunes withfamous melodies into a spectacular fantasia of otherworldlysounds that ricochet around the auditorium.

THE GOLEMGermany 1920 Paul Wegener, Carl Boese Silent; English inter-titles.Classification: G (General - Suitable for all ages) Archive printcourtesy of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung

Monstrous as it may seem, the literary creation of Frankensteinis a mere baby compared with the ancient Jewish legend ofthe Golem, a shambling, soulless creature mystically created byRabbi Loew of Prague from clay, to save the beleaguered Jewsof the city from expulsion.This famous mediæval tale hasbeen filmed several times, but this 1920 silent version is thefinest treatment of the original story and is indeed one of themost outstanding of all silent films. Extraordinary lighting andenormous sets inspired by the mediæval architecture of Pragueadd to the innovative Expressionist nature of the production.When the film was re-released in Germany with recordedmusic in the 1930s, Adolf Hitler is said to have ordered allcopies of it to be burnt, so that Jews would not feelempowered by this reminder of an ancient story.

Special Live Opening Night Presentation

GARY LUCAS & THE GOLEMThe 2007 Festival of Jewish Cinema is delighted topresent the internationally acclaimed New York guitarvirtuoso, Gary Lucas, performing his original musicalscore for a rare Australian screening of the classicsilent film, The Golem.

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DANS LA VIEFrance 2007 Philippe Faucon 73 min In French & Arabic; English subtitles

Philippe Faucon’s new film is a wonderfully written and performedcontemporary drama set in present-day France. It relates not one buttwo stories of converging lives. Esther, a cantankerous elderly Jewishwoman, appears destined to see out her years in a nursing homedespite the efforts of her busy doctor son and an enviable home inthe South of France. But when Sélima, a young French-raised Arabwoman, comes on board as her nurse-at-home, all appears saved, asthe two form an unlikely friendship despite their considerabledifferences in age and background. Life, however, doesn’t gosmoothly for Sélima. Mistreated while doing her other nursingrounds, and hounded at home by her family and her stricter hijab-wearing Muslim relatives, Sélima is eventually forced to enlist thehelp of her own mother, Halima, to help care for Esther, despite hermother’s initial protestations. First presented at the Toronto FilmFestival only last month, this is a beautiful tale of inter-generation andreligious differences, full of warmth of character and situation, thatconsistently confounds our expectations. Each of the three centralwomen is a completely rounded character, full of inherited history,yet finally open to others despite the most profound differences.

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AND ALONG COME TOURISTSGermany 2007 Robert Thalheim 85 min In Polish, German & English; English subtitles

A triumph at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, And Along Come Touristsmarks an important milestone. As with Just An Ordinary Jew (whichthe Festival is screening again due to popular demand; see nextpage), it too is a contemporary and part autobiographical story, butset in Poland, in the infamous township of Oswiecim. Now overrunwith visitors to the nearby former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, it ishardly the place that Sven, a young pacifistic German, expects to besent to do his compulsory civil service. Stranded and alone, one ofhis main tasks is to look after an elderly camp survivor, thecantankerous Stanislaw Krzeminski, who treats the young Germanwith disdain. Luckily, a budding relationship with an attractive Polishinterpreter, Ania, makes Sven’s everyday life more bearable. But, asthe weeks go by, his growing affection for Ania, and his developingcompassion for the much put-upon Krzeminski, lead to sometroubling realizations for which there are few resolutions. This is oneof the most subtle, insightful and unexpected films to come out ofGermany in recent years.

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JUST ANORDINARYJEWGermany 2005 Oliver Hirschbiegel 89 min InGerman; English subtitles

A tour-de-force from Oliver Hirschbiegel,director of the Berlin Bunker box-officesmash, Downfall. Based on a book bySwiss author Charles Lewinsky, thismesmerising screen drama addresses thethorny issue of what it means to beJewish in contemporary Germany.Emanuel Goldfarb, a German-Jewish

journalist, receives a terribly polite letter asking him to speak at a schoolabout his daily life as a “Jewish fellow citizen” to a group of Germanschoolchildren. Perishing the thought, Goldfarb writes to the teacher,refusing the invitation. But, to his own surprise, his letter, and with itthe film, develops into a monumental settling of accounts in which hestarkly confronts Germany’s dark past and his German-Jewish identityin no uncertain terms. It is not possible to do justice in a few sentencesto what transpires. Suffice to say, in a dreamlike postscript ending, wesee Goldfarb sitting in a classroom before a sea of innocent youngGerman faces, eager to hear the truth of what it’s like to be the progenyof a “race” their own grandparents strove so hard to exterminate. Backby popular demand, this absolutely brilliant film is not to be missed.

IT HAD TOBE YOUFrance 2007 Marc Gibaja 100 minIn French; English subtitles

A hilarious romantic comedyset in present-day Paris, It HadTo Be You is a wonderful takeon, and affectionate tribute to,this uniquely American filmgenre. Sprinkled withsuggestive Jewish details andbackground as if to understate

its theme, the film tells the story of two incurable romantics andchildhood sweethearts, Florence and Thomas. Now approachingmiddle-age, they secretly dream that their lives will play out like thehappy endings of their favourite movies. If only. When they meet-up bychance, the pair is determined to do anything but fall in love. Thomas isstill smarting from a disastrous relationship and, at 35, has moved backhome to live with his parents. Meanwhile, Florence is settled inmarriage and has enough on her plate with her children, including awayward teenage daughter. When Florence’s marriage falls apart,Thomas assumes they will rekindle their childhood romance, but, as hesoon discovers, life is not a romantic comedy. First screened at Cannesin May, this is a playful and accomplished comedy where nothing playsout as first expected.

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THE BUBBLEIsrael 2006 Eytan Fox 118 min In Hebrew & Arabic; English subtitles

Israeli director Eytan Fox’s follow-up to his acclaimed international hit,Walk on Water, is arguably his strongest film to date. Working withfrequent collaborator Gal Uchovsky, this vibrant new film defines thecontradictions of daily life in modern Israel for a generation. It follows atrio of attractive Israeli twentysomethings who share a flat in Tel Aviv’shippest neighbourhood district, and who live and work in the proverbial“bubble” – the chic cafés, shops and night-clubs of Tel Aviv – whileignoring the outside conflicts of the Middle East. But when one ofthem, Noam, a sweet-natured music-store clerk and reserve soldier,meets a handsome Palestinian named Ashraf, their escalating affair forceseveryone to face reality in the most confronting ways. Vacillatingprovocatively between romantic comedy and political tragedy, The Bubbleavoids the usual clichés, political speech-making and partisanship, andunfolds with bright visual style, unerringly suited to its timely subject.As always, Eytan Fox directs with compassion, but also with impatiencefor his characters’ self-centredness. This remarkably assured feature wasa multiple prize-winner at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

JELLYFISHIsrael-France 2007 Etgar Keret, Shira Geffen 78 min In Hebrew, English & German;English subtitles

There may be no more beguilingly beautiful or original film this yearthan this marvellously realised début from the gifted team of Etgar Keretand Shira Geffen. Winner of the Camera d’Or for Best First Feature atthis year’s Cannes Film Festival, the film begins as an ensemble pieceabout four characters whose tangential lives intersect in present-day TelAviv. First, there is Batya, who works for a wedding caterer but has littleto her name other than a leaky apartment – that is, until she takes in ayoung child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Then, there arenewlyweds Keren and Michael, whose plans for an idyllic Caribbeanhoneymoon are scuttled when the beautiful bride breaks her ankle in anaccident. Finally, there is Joy, a non-Hebrew-speaking Filipino domesticcarer who cannot escape the irony that she is not back home lookingafter her own young son, but helping one of her elderly clients reconcilewith an estranged daughter. But just when one has become comfortablewith these intersecting storylines and overlapping encounters, the filmmagically transforms into an unlikely mosaic of modern Israel life. Thequartet wend their way through Israel’s most cosmopolitan city andtheir lives take on a magical aura. Truly wonderful.

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MY MEXICAN SHIVAHMexico 2006 Alejandro Springall 102 min In Spanish, Hebrew & Yiddish; Englishsubtitles

According to Jewish folklore, a Jew is accompanied from birth by theangels of light and darkness. When beloved patriarch MoisheTartakovsky dies unexpectedly, these divine accountants must calculatehis soul’s direction into the afterlife by eavesdropping on the mournersgathered in a Mexico City apartment for his shivah (the prescribed seven-day mourning period). However, Moishe’s eternal rest might be injeopardy. Those sitting shivah include his vain daughter, bankrupt son,newly-Orthodox and wayward grandson, Catholic ex-lover and, perhapsbest of all, two mysterious elderly Yiddish-speaking bystanders – Alephand Bet – who diligently argue the merits and demerits of Moishe’s life,which they record in a celestial ledger! Based on a story by Mexican-Jewish writer Ilan Stavans, and set entirely in Mexico City’s small butvibrant Jewish Community (in a city of 18 million, there are fewer than20,000 Jews), this black comedy was produced by John Sayles(Matewan, Sunshine State) and features a wonderful original score by The Klezmatics. It turns My Mexican Shivah into an affectionate, tearfulparty that’s hard to leave. Opening Night film at the New York JewishFilm Festival.

O JERUSALEMFrance 2006 Elie Chouraqui 102 min In English

An emotionally stirring work in the tradition of Exodus and To Cast a GiantShadow, Elie Chouraqui’s passionate retelling of the spellbinding events ofthe birth of Israel has been a major talking point since it was released incinemas across France. Based on the international best-seller by LarryCollins and Dominique Lapierre, this epic film is framed as the story oftwo friends, both New Yorkers – Bobby Goldman, a Jew, and hisPalestinian friend, Saïd Chahïn – who are reluctantly pulled into the far-offconflict. Flashing back and forth between scenes of Bobby and Saïd’sfriendship in post-war Manhattan, and the hustle and chaos of BritishMandate Palestine, the film meticulously reconstructs the events justbefore the UN vote for Partition and the ensuing War of Independence,culminating in the historic battle for Jerusalem. Director Elie Chouraqui’sepisodic narrative offers more that one dramatic climax, and delves witheven-handed interest and compassion into the destiny of both sides, neverflinching when depicting the internecine waring Jewish factions. With IanHolm as David Ben Gurion and Tovah Feldshuh as Golda Meir.

THE LAST TRAINGermany-Czech Republic 2006 Joseph Vilsmaier, Dana Vávrová 122 min In Polish &German; English subtitles

A major departure for director Joseph Vilsmaier (The ComedianHarmonists, Stalingrad), who teamed with wife Dana Vávrová and thelegendary Berlin producer Artur Brauner (Europa, Europa) to bring thisuncompromising story to the screen. It is 1943 and the war is near itsheight. In Berlin, almost 70,000 of the city’s Jews have been deportedand the last transports are set to embark in April. For 688 of Berlin’sremaining Jews, this chilling reality haunts their daily lives. Summonedby the Gestapo to Platform 17 of the infamous Grünewald Station, theyare crammed into crowded wagons and sent on a harrowing journey.Some will try to escape and save themselves, others not. Concurrently,another set of stories about the families’ previous lives is told inflashback, standing in stark counterpoint to the encroachingcatastrophe. First shown at this year’s Berlin, Cannes and Jerusalem filmfestivals, The Last Train is a powerful story of people trying to outrun themælstrom of history.

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THE LASTFIGHTERSIsrael 2006 Ronen Zaretzky, Yael Kipper Zaretzky 76 min In Hebrew, English, Polish &Yiddish; English subtitles

History comes alive in this moving documentary in which six of theremaining survivors of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising step in frontof the camera to recall those momentous events. Now in their eighties,most live in Israel (anonymously, as it happens, among neighbours whoknow nothing of their heroic past), where they continue to meet every18th of April, as they have for the past 60 years. They include KazikRotem, Masha Gleitman, Pnina Greenspan and Aharon Carmi; BrunkSpigel from Canada; and the celebrated Marek Edelman, who chose toremain in Poland. Then youngsters belonging to various Zionist andanti-Zionist groups, including the Bund, their searing memories of thehistoric events – in which hundreds of ill-equipped Jewish fighters wereable to hold off the Nazi war machine for a month – are far richer andmore complex than the version that has come down in history andofficial commemorations. The whole dramatic event, rich in detail, isbrought to life through the lucid voices of these resilient survivors.Followed by: The True Story of Marianne GolzItaly 2007 Monica Repetto 52 min In Italian, English & German; Englishsubtitles. A touching documentary about Marianne Golz-Goldlust, alittle-known Viennese operetta singer who was executed by the Nazis in1943 for helping Jews and others escape from Prague.

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LA QUESTION HUMAINEFrance 2007 Nicolas Klotz 140 min In French; English subtitles

A masterful contemporary thriller from France, Nicolas Klotz’sastonishing new film will reverberate with audiences. First screened atthis year’s Cannes Film Festival in the Directors Fortnight – and at aswag of international film festivals since – it has stirred fervent debateabout how the past intrudes on the present. Simon, a human-resourcesmanager of a German-owned petrochemical corporation in France, isassigned the task of secretly investigating the company’s director,Mathias Jüst, by the company’s liberal deputy director, Karl Rose.Weighing up a possible power struggle between the two men, Simondecides to use Jüst’s passion for classical music to get closer to him, buthis own perception becomes clouded when his investigation uncovers aculture of denouncement and surveillance that leads back to the Naziera. In a dazzling performance, Mathieu Amalric plays Simon as a well-dressed “corporate terminator”, a consummate professional out of hisdepth in a labyrinthine past and with the machinations of the present,oblivious to the damage caused to his own soul. As Mathias Jüst,Michael Lonsdale gives one of his greatest performances, a captain ofindustry trapped by the juggernaut of history. An astonishing film, agenuine tour-de-force and a brilliant meditation on the corrosive effects ofhistory.

SAVED BY DEPORTATIONUSA 2007 Slawomir Grunberg, Robert Podgursky 80 min In English, Russian, Polish,Hebrew, Uzbek & Tajik; English subtitles

A new feature documentary from Slawomir Grunberg, whose The Legacyof Jedwabne was screened last year. In 1940, a year before the Nazisstarted deporting Jews to death camps, Joseph Stalin ordered thedeportation of approximately 200,000 Polish Jews from Russian-occupied Eastern Poland to forced labour settlements in the Sovietinterior. As cruel as Stalin’s deportations were, ultimately they largelysaved Jewish lives, for the surviving deportees constituted theoverwhelming majority of the Polish Jews who escaped the NaziHolocaust. Saved by Deportation not only tells this story, it follows Asherand Shyfra Scharf, now elderly Chasidic Jews and former deportees, asthey travel through Poland, Russia and Central Asia, revisiting theirplaces of exile travelled more than 60 years ago. It is in some of theseplaces that the film demonstrates a remarkable spirit as the Scharfs arewelcomed by locals who recall fondly the sojourn of Polish refugees intheir midst. This little-known story of survival is both a harrowingadventure and an affirmation of human goodness during times of greatdarkness. It is also a reminder of the path trodden by so many survivorswho came to Australia after the war.

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TEHILIMIsrael-France 2007 Raphael Nadjari 96 min In Hebrew; English subtitles

This moving drama from French-born Israeli director Raphael Nadjari(whose Avanim was screened in 2004) achieved the rare and much-sort-after feat of being presented in the prestigious Official Competition atthis year’s Cannes Film Festival. Set in Jerusalem’s Orthodoxcommunity, the film tells of a family’s coming to terms with the suddenand unexplained disappearance of the father, following a car accident.Haunted by loss but unable to properly mourn it, his surviving two sonsand their mother are left to process and come to terms with thesituation in their own different ways. In a society often geared forwartime tragedy, support from friends and family seems more rote thansincere, even when the sons try to find a way to get their missing fatherback. From this fraught situation, Nadjari has created an unforgettableportrait of a family whose members are pulled apart, but also broughtcloser together. Nadjari’s direction is so smoothly accurate in everydetail, and moves with such assured unhurried pace, that viewers willsoon forget they are watching a film. A compelling and intimate portraitof loss and connection.

SWEETMUDIsrael 2006 Dror Shaul 97 min InHebrew, French & English; Englishsubtitles

In what has been an exceptionallygood time for Israeli cinema, SweetMud has been hailed as the mostaccomplished Israeli feature ofthe year. It won the Grand Jury

Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, the Crystal Bear at the BerlinInternational Film Festival and six Israeli Academy Awards, includingBest Picture. It tells the story of a son’s relationship with his emotionallyfragile mother, Miri (the exquisite Ronit Yudkevitch), set against thebackdrop of a 1970s kibbutz. So many subtle threads are woven into itsfabric that it becomes a richly complex and rewarding picture of Israelilife, one that peels back the romantic mythology surrounding communallife on a kibbutz. For his bar mitzvah, 12-year-old Dvir must pass abattery of tests of his manhood and worthiness as a future kibbutzleader. But this is nothing compared to the challenge presented by hissingle mother, who since the death of her husband has been teeteringon the edge. When her much-rumoured boyfriend appears fromSwitzerland, things look up, but a chain of small but powerful eventssends this nascent family reeling. This deeply felt drama deserves all theacclaim accorded it in Israel and abroad. Opening Night film at the SanFrancisco Jewish Film Festival.

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Yiddish Film Classics - New RestorationsWhat is it about Jewish culture that it stubbornly persists, even flourishes, in the face of what seem to be insurmountable odds? Evenon film, it simply refuses to fade away. Here is a remarkable selection of newly restored archive prints, once thought lost to cinemaaudiences. Miraculously preserved by The National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University, USA, these little-known Yiddishclassics represent a hitherto forgotten chapter in world cinema. Thanks to some considerable restorative magic, this marvellousheritage is now back on the screen, miraculously resurrected in all its glory.

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THE CANTOR’S SON USA 1937 Ilya Motyleff, Sidney M Goldin 90 minIn Yiddish; English subtitles

Described as a sort of anti-The Jazz Singer,TheCantor’s Son marks the screen début of the

celebrated cantor and matinee idol Moishe Oysher, whosesplendid voice is heard throughout.This free-spirited musical tellsthe story of a wayward youth who makes his way from his Polishshtetl to New York’s Lower East Side, where he eventually achievessuccess and happiness by keeping one foot in the New World andanother in the Old. Featuring rare glimpses of the Lower EastSide and of 2nd Avenue Yiddish theatre marquees of the period,the film loosely parallels Oysher’s struggle to reconcile hiscantorial calling (he was the son and grandson of cantors) with acareer in show business. During the film’s production, directorSidney M. Goldin (Uncle Moses, East and West) suffered a fatal heartattack and was succeeded by Stanislavsky protégé Ilya Motlyeff.The film’s score was composed by Alexander Olshanetsky, aconcert violinist and veteran of the Yiddish theatre, and includeshis now famous hymn, “Mayn Shtetle Belz”.

MOTHERS OF TODAYUSA 1939 Henry Lynn 85 minutes In Yiddish;English subtitles

A classic tale of parental sacrifice and filialingratitude, Mothers of Today exemplifies the Yiddish film genre ofshund, a brand of popular entertainment that appealed to Jewish-immigrant audiences with broadly drawn stories reflecting theirdaily life and anxieties. Featuring the only motion-pictureperformance of radio star Esther Field, who was well-known onUS radio airwaves in the 1930s as the “Yidishe Mama”, it is abouta mother coping with her children’s troubles resulting from their

straying from Jewish tradition. Sentimental, farcical and tragic byturns, Mothers of Today is remarkable for its low-budget artistry andvitality. Featuring an exuberant musical score that erupts at almostevery opportunity with lively production numbers, this is a filmfor dyed-in-the-wool Yiddish fans. It is bound to have you singingalong and marvelling that everyone in New York, even its police,speaks Yiddish.

THE VOWPoland 1937 Henryk Szabo 82 min InYiddish; English subtitles

One of a handful of memorable Yiddish filmsmade in rapid succession in Poland on the eve of the Holocaust,The Vow is a window into a vanished world already wedgedbetween tradition and modernity. Loosely based on the samefolkloric story that underpins S. Ansky’s classic play, The Dybbuk,the film tells of two friends who, on completing their Yeshivastudies, make a celebratory vow pledging their unborn children,Rachel and Mendel, in marriage. Many years later, Rachel's fatherdies and the pledge is forgotten. As events unfold, the twochildren accidentally meet and fall in love, but their short-livedromance is thwarted by circumstance. Directed by Henryk Szabo(who, like so many of his Jewish colleagues, was already anestablished figure in mainstream Polish cinema before turning toYiddish filmmaking; he is thought to have perished in the WarsawGhetto in 1942), the film is notable for its many authentic scenesof shtetl life and the musical score, which is a mixture of Yiddishsongs and popular tunes.The cast is headed by Dina Halpern,who would later become the grande dame of the Yiddish theatre.

THE JOURNEYGermany 2003 Pierre Koralnick 90 min In German & Polish; English subtitles

A gripping drama of war-time survival, The Journey tells the story of twoteenage sisters, Katarzyna and Elzbieta, who, at the behest of theirfather, flee Nazi-occupied Poland by volunteering for work in Germany -hoping that they will go unnoticed in the mass of non-Jewish Polishgirls travelling there as forced labour. Armed with false Aryan birthcertificates and new identity cards, the pair sets out on a treacherousjourney that will take them across Germany to the Ruhr region and theRhine River near Switzerland, and to war’s end. To survive, the sistersare forced to conceal every detail of their family background to the point of hiding their education and speaking German without Yiddishinflection. Yet, even this is not enough to prevent them being preyedupon and betrayed. Based on Ida Fink’s celebrated novel, The Journey(aka The Last Hide-Out) is a superbly directed and marvellously actedscreen drama that succeeds in conveying the precariousness of thesisters’ attempt to survive the war.

Brazil 2006 Cao Hamburger 104 min In Portuguese, Yiddish & Hebrew; English subtitles

A heart-warming story that blends drama and comedy into somethingdeeply moving and utterly unique. In 1970 Brazil, a military régime hasruled the country since 1964, but 12-year-old Mario’s biggest concern iswhether Brazil wins the World Cup. It is also the year that his parentsare forced to flee in the middle of the night, leaving him at hisgrandfather’s house in São Paulo, unaware that the elderly man has justdied hours before. Whisked to the funeral by Yiddish-speakingstrangers, Mauro is reluctantly taken under the wing of his lategrandfather’s solitary and observant Jewish neighbour, Shlomo, whoworks at the nearby synagogue. Though nonplussed to find Mauro isn’tcircumcised on account of his Catholic mother, eventually thecongregation and local neighbourhood amiably adopts the boy, whileShlomo courageously tries to find where the parents have vanished to.First screened in the Official Competition at this year’s Berlin FilmFestival, this partly autobiographical film – both of director CaoHamburger’s parents were arrested for their political activities – is asgraceful, lucid and moving a film as is likely to be seen this year.

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TICKETING INFORMATIONGary Lucas & The Golem $37.00 (incl. GST) – no concessions.Single sessions $16.00 (incl. GST) – all tickets excluding GaryLucas & The Golem – no concessions.Gold Pass $87.50 (incl. GST) - valid for any seven different filmsexcluding Gary Lucas & The Golem.Gold Pass patrons are required to select and acquire all of theirsession tickets at the time they purchase their Gold Pass.Seating for all Festival sessions is fully reserved.It is strongly advised that, where possible, patrons should booktheir Festival tickets well in advance to avoid possibledisappointment. If past Festivals are a guide, many sessions willbe sold out prior to the screenings.All Festival films are restricted to persons 18 years and overwith the exception of Gary Lucas & The Golem which isClassified G General: Suitable for all ages.

HOW TO BOOK The Festival will be held at ACMI Cinemas, at the AustralianCentre for the Moving Image, Federation Square, FlindersStreet, Melbourne.The ACMI Cinemas are located on Level 2.The ACMI FestivalBox-Office is located on Level 1.Festival tickets may be purchased by phone or in person at theACMI Cinemas. Please note: Visa, Mastercard, and AmericanExpress credit cards will be accepted for all Melbourne Festivalticket purchases.By Phone: Please call the ACMI Cinemas’ FestivalTelephone Bookings Line on (03) 8663 2222.Credit-card telephone bookings for all Festival sessions will commence at10.00 am on Wednesday 24 October, and will continue between 10.00 amand 6.00 pm on each weekday (Monday to Friday) thereafter (excludingMelbourne Cup Day,Tuesday 6 November).(On weekends and Melbourne Cup Day, Festival tickets may bepurchased in person at the ACMI Box Office, only. See below.)All telephone credit-card ticket bookings will be forwarded to Festival-goers by post. If time does not permit postage, arrangements will bemade for patrons to collect their tickets at the ACMI Cinemas Box-Office located on Level 1.A booking fee of $1.30 (incl. GST) per ticket, plus a handling and postagecharge of $3.50 (incl. GST), or an express-post charge of $6.00 (incl.GST), per transaction will apply.If patrons have any queries about their credit-card bookings, or have notreceived their tickets in good time before their first selected session,please contact the ACMI Cinemas’ Festival Bookings Line on (03) 8663 2222.At ACMI Cinemas:Australian Centre for the Moving ImageFederation Square, Flinders Street, Melbourne (03) 8663 2222.Advance ticket sales for all Festival sessions will be available from theACMI Cinemas Box-office located on Level 1, from 10.00 am Wednesday24 October, and will continue on each day thereafter during Festivalticket-office hours from 10.00 am until 15 minutes after the start of thelast Festival screening, and from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm on all other dayswhen there are no Festival screenings.Car Parking:

Secure Parking and Kings Parking at Flinders Gate, 172-192Flinders Street (opposite Federation Square).Tel (03) 96502105. A special discounted evening (from 4.00 pm

weekdays) and an all weekend car parking rate of $6.50 (incl. GST) isavailable subject to the presentation of your Festival and car-park tickets.

Please Note:All Festival films are restricted to persons 18 years and over over withthe exception of Gary Lucas & The Golem which is Classified G General:Suitable for all ages.Festival-goers are advised to arrive in good time for Festival screenings ifthey wish to purchase or collect their Festival tickets on the day.All Festival tickets, once purchased, are not refundable and cannot beexchanged.Please do not bring large bags, briefcases, laptops, backpacks, shoppingbags, etc., with you as these cannot be stored at the cinemas.Patrons who wish to purchase their Festival tickets at the cinemas areencouraged to complete a Festival Booking Form for multiple ticketpurchases, including Gold Passes.Dates, times and programmes are correct at the time of publication, butthey may need to be altered because of circumstances beyond ourcontrol.We therefore reluctantly reserve the right to withdraw, changeand replace programmes without prior notice.

Single sessions $16.00 (incl. GST) – all tickets including Opening NightFilm – no concessions.

Gold Pass $87.50 (incl. GST) valid for any seven differentfilms.

Gold Pass patrons are required to select and acquire all oftheir session tickets at the time they purchase their Gold Pass.

Seating for all Festival sessions is fully reserved.

It is strongly advised that, where possible, patrons should booktheir Festival tickets well in advance to avoid possibledisappointment. If past Festivals are a guide, many sessions willbe sold out prior to the screenings.

All Festival films are restricted to persons 18 years and over.

Security:Please do not bring large bags, briefcases, laptops, backpacks,shopping bags, etc., with you as these cannot be stored at thecinemas. Please arrive early for screenings as bags and pursesmay be subject to inspection.

OFFICIAL OPENINGWED 7th NOVEMBER7.30 pm Gary Lucas & The

Golem

THUR 8th7.30 pm Gary Lucas & The

Golem

SAT 10th 4.30 pm The Last Fighters

followed byMarianne Golz

7.00 pm O Jerusalem9.00 pm My Mexican Shivah

SUN 11th 3.00 pm The Cantor's Son5.00 pm The Journey7.00 pm Tehilim

MON 12th7.30 pm O Jerusalem

TUE 13th7.30 pm And Along Come

Tourists

WED 14th7.30 pm Tehilim

THUR 15th7.30 pm Sweet Mud

SAT 17th 4.30 pm My Mexican Shivah6.45 pm La Question

Humaine 9.30 pm It Had to Be You

SUN 18th NOVEMBER3.00 pm The Vow4.45 pm Saved by

Deportation6.30 pm Sweet Mud

MON 19th7.30 pm The Bubble

TUE 20th7.30 pm La Question

Humaine

WED 21st7.30 pm The Last Train

THUR 22nd 7.30 pm Dans La Vie

SAT 24th5.00 pm Just an Ordinary

Jew7.00 pm The Year My

Parents Went on Vacation

9.15 pm It Had to Be You

SUN 25th3.00 pm Mothers of Today5.00 pm The Year My

Parents Went on Vacation

7.00 pm Jellyfish

ACMI CINEMAS (03) 8663 2222Levels 1 & 2, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Federation Square, Melbourne

SCREENING SCHEDULE

And Along Come Tourists Jellyfish The True Story of Marianne Goltz Sweet Mud The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

125286 JFF MELB 8pp.out 11/10/07 3:48 PM Page 8

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